THE PASTOR’S POINTS
sermon ministry of
CEDAR LODGE BAPTIST CHURCH
Thomasville, NC
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April 18, 2004
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1Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” 7This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” 8and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 9But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. 1 Peter 2:1-10 (NASB)
Last year I received an email from a friend, Dr. Ron Rowe, Director of Missions for the Jacksonville Baptist Association. He shared some insights that have been very helpful as I consider the core values we hold here at Cedar Lodge Baptist Church.
His message dramatically points-out for us the difference between a church that is “on-mission” in the Kingdom of God, and a church that has lost its way. He draws on the headlines of a year ago:
Yesterday’s headlines read, "Report Blames Flawed NASA Culture for Tragedy." The article deals with the 248-page report by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. You recall, 7 astronauts were lost because of a chunk of insulating foam shed from Columbia during launch, leading to a series of other freakish developments which turned out to be fatal. But the technical explanation was just part of the story. The report stated, "other factors of a sociological and psychological nature – NASA’s culture – was more to blame than the piece of foam."
Organizational culture has to do with the basic values, assumptions, and mindset that drive an organization. And, every organization has a culture. Every home has its culture; every school, every church, every staff, every office, every business – they all have a culture. The particular organization you lead has its culture.
Values of the organizational culture are like the roots of a tree. Though not readily visible, they determine the life, growth, and vitality of the organization.
The Columbia Accident Board determined that the "culture" of NASA had become blocked by complacency, bureaucracy, ineffective communication, flawed analysis, and ineffective leadership. [1]
Dr. Rowe went on to suggest a number of components of a healthy culture. I will draw on those in a moment.
Let’s take a moment now to read aloud our purpose statement (found on your bulletin cover) as an introduction to this theme of core values which I consider the central issue of our culture, what we value and live as part of the body of Jesus Christ.
Cedar Lodge Baptist Church, as a part of the body of Christ, is dedicated, in love, to the fulfillment of God’s commandments by pursuing missions and ministry.
Now, if you notice, our core values are contained in both the Scripture passage from First Peter and the purpose statement of our church.
• Peter calls us a “spiritual house” built up from little stones, who are modeled after the Cornerstone, The Rock (Jesus). Our purpose statement has it that we are part of the body of Christ. Same thing!
• Peter says we were once living in darkness – the darkness of sin – but God called us out with light (Jesus is the light of the world). Our purpose statement says we are all about pursuing that light.
• Peter says we are chosen, royal, and holy – now he didn’t say that to give us “bragging rights”. Rather God chose to set us apart for His own purpose; that purpose is for us to tell the world about Him, by the way we live, and by the way we love. And that is the issue this morning – the way we live and the way we love.
Consider our purpose statement from those two perspectives:
The Way We Live
There are two major considerations in our purpose statement for the way we live
1. Growing as part of Christ’s body
Peter said God’s requirement for followers of Jesus was to “put aside” malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, slander, etc, and grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ. That phrase “putting aside” is in the Greek aorist tense. It indicates something that is done “once-for-all”. It’s like taking off a garment, laying it on the ground, and never again picking it up. In other words, we don’t just cut-back on our malice and hypocrisy – we give it up altogether!
If we are to become an exemplary part of the Body of Christ it will mean laying-aside all self-centeredness. I have known some saved people who are mean-spirited and just plain “hard to get along with”. Instead of letting the grace of the Lord Jesus transform them into mellow and gracious people, it seems the longer they live, the more demanding they become. They make life miserable for everyone around them.
How can you prevent that? You can do what Peter said: And coming to Him as living stones…1 Peter 2:4a (NASB). The phrase “coming to Him” indicates a habitual approach. Peter said we are to grow by [habitually] taking in the sincere milk of the Word. That’s how babies grow…they take in nourishment at every opportunity. They eat habitually!
Is prayer and Bible study habitual with you? As a pastor I have often been in the privileged position of watching the last number of months, days and hours of people who are getting ready to exit this world. One of the surest signs that the end is near is when the person refuses food. An appetite is required for health.
My friend, if you want to be true to the purpose statement to which you agreed – and, more importantly, to the Lord Who died for you – your appetite for growing needs to be fed. If you don’t feed it, it is a sign that you’d rather live close to spiritual death than robust Christian life!
Our way of living as part of the body of Christ at Cedar Lodge Baptist is to grow by feeding on the Word of God, and...
2. Learning to fulfill God’s Commandments
Jesus gave a summary statement of the 10 Commandments:
‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38“This is the great and foremost commandment. 39“The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40“On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37b-40
Jesus [in effect] said that if we want to know what God expects, love Him with everything you’ve got, and do that for your neighbor as well.
Peter also gave a pretty graphic and interesting picture of what it means to fulfill God’s commandments. He told about how God had used the life and ministry of Jesus to be like a cornerstone.
A cornerstone is the most important one laid in a foundation. If it is crooked, the whole building will be like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But Jesus isn’t flawed in any way. He is the perfect cornerstone. As His followers, therefore, we are the bricks that build the spiritual house of God. But it is all according to the cornerstone…everything hinges on being like Jesus.
What does it mean to be a spiritual house of God? It means we are to live obediently to all God’s claims on our lives. We are to live disciplined lives of service to others. Each “stone” or “brick” in the building of God’s house is to relate well to each other stone, so we can be a lighthouse of God’s welcoming message to the whole world.
We are to become like the chief cornerstone, Jesus. We call it becoming Christ-like; we grow into the image of Christ by following after Him. We don’t conform to the ways of the world; we are transformed by allowing God to renew us and remake us.
I have been told a number of times since becoming your pastor that it’s just a fact of life around here, that sometimes, in order to get us moving as a church the pastor just needs to “fuss” at the congregation a little in the sermon, and that will do it.
Now, without fussing over that, let me tell you why I won’t do that. I will not presume to take away your responsibility to respond to your Savior. If all you are waiting on to serve God is a little parental-like scolding, you are asking me to be God, and that position is already filled.
But, worse than putting me on a throne, you are putting yourself in the “disobedient child” position – won’t serve until he’s fussed-at. Obeying God’s commands should be the uppermost thing on your mind – not just because our purpose statement says it – but because the commands of God are not awful and odious; He is a loving God Who gives commands that are for our health and joy! Obey Him because you love Him, not because the preacher fusses at you once in a while! Obey Him because you’ve chosen to live that way.
Our purpose statement announces the way we live, and also…
The Way We Love
Rick Warren is the author of “The Purpose-Driven Life”. Before he wrote that book he wrote “The Purpose-Driven Church”. In that first book Warren says that “…the key issue for churches in the twenty-first century is church health, not church growth.[2]
I believe Rick Warren is correct, and I say to you that the health of this church [or any church], spiritually-speaking, will determine its growth! Well, preacher, how do you determine the spiritual health of a congregation? It is by the way we live, certainly; it is by the way we love, unquestionably.
The way we love, Peter said is our appetite for two things…
1. Pursuit of Missions
Peter said that God’s purpose in bringing us out of the darkness of sin and choosing us to be his own priceless possession was so that we would proclaim [or preach, witness of] His “excellencies”. Folks, if that isn’t a “core value” I don’t know what could be one!
One sure sign of a healthy church is that we not only remember we are supposed to go around telling everyone who will listen that Jesus saves, but that we actually do it!
Pursuing missions; does that mean going to South America or Africa to be eaten by savages? No…at least not at first! Pursuing missions means telling others about Jesus…proclaiming Bethlehem, Golgotha and Armageddon…
• Bethlehem – He came to us;
• Golgotha – He died and rose to save us;
• and Armageddon – He’s coming back for us.
Let me put in a word for our missions organizations here. Some folks think they cannot possibly be doing missions unless they travel at least 100 miles from home. My friends let me tell you something – you cannot possibly be ready to do missions anywhere until you are willing to talk to your neighbors.
Don’t put the cart before the horse here – you shouldn’t sign-up for a trip to West Virginia or East St. Louis or Mongolia, or anywhere, if you’re not willing to show up here on visitation night to go witness to lost people under the shadow of our own steeple.
Do you recall Jesus telling us about missions, saying we would be His witnesses? He said we should go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
That, my friends, is a circle that starts with the closest place to your own home. You don’t start with a mission to the far corners of the globe; you begin with what God has put in front of you! Pursue missions, and…
2. Pursuit of Ministry
What is the difference between missions and ministry? Well, there is a difference, but, it is like the old song has it…love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage…you can’t have one without the other.
"Missions" is telling others about Jesus – Bethlehem, Golgotha & Armageddon. Ministry is meeting the needs of people so you can tell them about Jesus.
Peter called us a “royal priesthood”. He was quoting from Exodus:
5‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ Exodus 19:5-6
A priest is a mediator, a go-between. The pope, who is the head priest of the Roman Catholic church, is called in Latin pontifex – bridge-builder. Ministry is being that priest, a bridge-builder between Christ and people who need Christ.
How can there be mission without ministry? It doesn’t happen, but neither does either happen unless we make up our minds and submit our lives to Him and His service. That is where the “dedicated in love” part comes in…
Dedicated in Love
Peter asks us to look at what has happened to us.
• We have been called out of darkness into light;
• We were nobody – God made us precious;
• We were under condemnation of sin – God came with mercy.
Charles Lowery tells of …a young boy who lived in south Florida who had a bad day at school. His house was on a lake and when he got home, he just hit the water and began to swim. When he was about halfway out into the lake, he looked up and realized that he was nose to nose with an alligator. He made a U-turn and swam as hard and fast as he could, yelling the whole time.
A neighbor saw what was happening and called 911. His mom saw him and dove into the lake. The alligator and his mom arrived at the boy about the same time. There was a tug-of-war, but his mom won. When he was released from the hospital the news media was there, and they asked to see the scars from the alligator. The young boy showed them the scars, then told them he wanted them to see his other scars. He showed the media his arm. Those were the scars from where his mother wouldn’t let go. [3]
To be as lost as that whole picture tells us we were – and to be found in the care and sovereign protection of God Almighty is truly an act of grace. And for that grace there can only be one response…love. It is the act of dedicating our entire lives to His service.
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ENDNOTES
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1] Leaderline, August 28, 2003, Ron Rowe, Compiler
2] Dr. Craig Nelson, 10 Characteristics of Healthy Churches, SermonCentral.com
3] Charles Lowery, SBC Life, April 2004, p.16
